Working Hours and the Weekly Rest in the Saudi Labor Law

Working hours under the Saudi Labor Law are not a single figure. The Law sets two alternative standards rather than one, permits changing them by a decision of the competent authority, separates rest time from actual working hours, and lays down a weekly rest that carries four descriptions in the text.

This guide sets out these provisions as they appear in Articles 98, 99, 101, 102 and 104.

1. The two standards: daily and weekly

Article 98 lays down a maximum for working hours on two standards:

• The daily standard: 8 hours a day as a maximum.
• The weekly standard: 48 hours a week as a maximum.

The formulation in the text makes them alternatives, not two conditions that come together.

As for determining which standard applies to a particular case and the effect of combining them, that is a matter to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.

2. Ramadan hours

Article 98 lays down that the hours are reduced during the month of Ramadan for Muslim workers to a maximum of 6 hours a day or 36 hours a week.

Two constraints sit in this provision: that it is specific to Muslim workers as it appears in the text, and that it follows the same structure of two alternative standards, daily and weekly, not a single standard.

3. The change is not made by agreement alone

Article 99 lays down that the maximum working hours may:

• Rise to 9 hours a day for certain categories of workers
• Fall to 7 hours a day in hazardous or harmful work

The governing constraint here is that this change is made by a decision of the Minister. The change in the text is therefore tied to a decision of the Minister, not to the agreement of the parties nor to the establishment’s own assessment.

As for identifying the categories and the work actually covered, reference on that is to the decisions issued by the competent authority.

Note that Article 99 moves in both directions: rising to 9 hours and falling to 7. It is therefore not merely an Article licensing an increase, but an Article amending the limit in both cases, and the reduction in it is tied in the text to the description of the work itself: hazardous or harmful work.

Note too that Article 99 deals with the maximum itself and changing it by decision, not with what falls beyond the existing limit.

4. The rest period: the constraint on consecutiveness

Article 101 lays down that the worker shall not work more than 5 consecutive hours without a rest period of not less than 30 minutes for rest, prayer and meals.

The constraint in the text is on consecutiveness, not on the total for the day: five consecutive hours is the limit, and the interval between them is not less than 30 minutes.

Note that the text sets a floor for the duration of the rest rather than a fixed duration, and that the purpose stated in it is threefold: rest, prayer and meals.

5. Remaining at the workplace: an independent limit

Article 101 also lays down that the worker shall not remain at the workplace more than 12 hours a day.

This is a limit on remaining, not on working hours. It is therefore a second constraint independent of the hours limit in Article 98, and it is a limit on the duration of remaining at the workplace rather than on the actual working hours that Article 98 measures.

The difference between the two limits is practical: an establishment may keep to eight working hours while the employee’s presence in it extends beyond 12 hours because of long gaps between the two shifts.

6. Rest time is not counted within actual working hours

Article 102 lays down that the periods for rest, prayer and meals are not counted within the actual working hours.

This text is what makes calculating working hours a matter of recording rather than estimation: the span between arrival and departure is not the actual working hours, and the difference between them is what this Article provided for.

Hence any attendance record that does not separate out the rest periods does not directly yield the actual working hours.

An example of the difference between the span and the working hours

Assumed inputs (the example’s own assumption, not a statutory rule): an employee arrives at eight in the morning and leaves at six in the evening, with two rest periods between them totalling two hours.

What the text says: the periods for rest, prayer and meals are not counted within the actual working hours.

Applying it: the span between arrival and departure is 10 hours, and the actual working hours are 8 hours after excluding the rest. The two figures are different, and the one against which the Article 98 limit is measured is the second.

The example makes clear that a record keeping only the arrival and departure times is not enough to produce the required figure: alongside them it needs the rest periods recorded. And that is the fact absent from many records.

7. The weekly rest: four descriptions in one text

Article 104 lays down that Friday is the weekly rest day for all workers, and the text carries four descriptions with it:

• Substitution is possible subject to a condition: the employer may substitute another day for this day for some of his workers, after notifying the competent labour office.
• It is not compensated in cash: the weekly rest may not be compensated by a cash payment.
• It is paid in full.
• It is not less than 24 consecutive hours.

Three of these descriptions are restrictive in the text itself: the condition of notifying the labour office upon substitution, the prohibition on cash compensation, and the quality of consecutiveness in the 24 hours.

The last description in particular is a floor in the form not less than, and consecutive rather than scattered. The 24 hours in the text are a single connected unit, not a total of hours distributed across days.

Note in the description of substitution two constraints together: that it is for some of the workers and not all of them, and that it is after notifying the competent labour office. The notification in the text is directed to the competent labour office, and it is a step towards an external body rather than an internal agreement between the parties. As for its timing and its procedures, that is a matter to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.

8. What the text does not address

• Which of the two standards applies to a particular establishment, the daily or the weekly. The particular case is to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.
• The categories and the work covered by the change of hours in Article 99. Reference on those is to the decisions of the competent authority.
• Dividing the rest period into more than one interval during the day. The particular case is to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.
• The effect of exceeding the limits laid down in these Articles. No figure for a fine may be stated, and reference on that is to the statutory text and the competent authority.

9. What your system should record

• The arrival and departure times for each employee, because they are the basis of every later calculation.
• The rest periods separately, because Article 102 excludes them from the actual working hours.
• The actual working hours calculated after excluding the rest, not the span between arrival and departure.
• The total hours of the week alongside the total for the day, because the two standards are different.
• The weekly rest day for each employee, and whether another day has been substituted for it.
• The notification to the labour office upon substitution and its date.
• The application of reduced Ramadan hours and who was covered by them, because the text confines them to Muslim workers.

10. A checklist

• Does the system record the actual working hours or only the span between arrival and departure?
• Is there an interval of not less than 30 minutes before 5 consecutive hours are exceeded?
• Does any employee’s presence at the workplace exceed 12 hours a day?
• Were the reduced Ramadan hours applied for Muslim workers?
• If the weekly rest day was substituted: was the competent labour office notified?
• Is the weekly rest paid and not less than 24 consecutive hours?
• Is any part of it compensated in cash, which the text prohibits?

11. Why this turns into a problem

The error in this area usually lies not in knowing the figure, but in what is measured. The establishment knows the limit is 8 hours, but its record keeps only the arrival time and the departure time. Article 102 is what makes the interval between those two times unequal to the actual working hours, because the rest is excluded.

What follows from that goes beyond the hours limit itself: the figure against which measurement is made is the actual working hours, and those are not the span between arrival and departure. An error in measurement therefore does not stop at a single item.

The weekly rest is the same: a substituted day without notifying the labour office remains an incomplete step even where the employee is content with it, because the notification in the text is directed to an external body and not to the other party to the contract.

What these points share is that the ruling in all of them is tied to a fact that gets recorded: the minutes of rest, the total hours of the week, the hour of arrival and the hour of departure, the rest day laid down for each employee, and the date the labour office was notified when it changed. None of them involves estimation or judgement, only a figure that is either recorded or not.

This is where it pays to have an employee’s facts in a single file. That is what Qoyod HR provides: a single employee file holding the contract, the documents and their expiry dates with an alert before them, an attendance record for each employee, and their leave, salary and end-of-service entitlements. End-of-service, overtime and leave-balance calculations are built into the system. It is a standalone HR system with its own subscription, and the link with Qoyod accounting is available now.

For the overtime allowance and compensatory rest, see compensatory rest and the basis for calculating overtime.

For estimating the allowance for additional hours, the overtime calculator is useful. For more guides and templates, browse the HR Resource Centre.

Frequently asked questions

How many working hours a day are there under the Saudi Labor Law?

Article 98 lays down a maximum of 8 hours a day on the daily standard, or 48 hours a week on the weekly standard. The two standards in the text are alternatives, not two conditions that come together.

How many working hours are there in Ramadan?

Article 98 lays down that the hours are reduced in Ramadan for Muslim workers to a maximum of 6 hours a day or 36 hours a week.

May eight hours be exceeded by agreement with the employee?

Article 99 lays down that the maximum may rise to 9 hours a day for certain categories of workers, or fall to 7 hours in hazardous or harmful work, and that in both cases this is by a decision of the Minister. The change in the text is therefore tied to a decision, not to the agreement of the parties.

How long is the rest period during the working day?

Article 101 lays down that the worker shall not work more than 5 consecutive hours without a rest period of not less than 30 minutes for rest, prayer and meals, and shall not remain at the workplace more than 12 hours a day.

Is the rest period counted within the working hours?

No. Article 102 lays down that the periods for rest, prayer and meals are not counted within the actual working hours. Hence the span between arrival and departure is not the actual working hours.

May the weekly rest be compensated by a cash payment?

No. Article 104 lays down that the weekly rest may not be compensated by a cash payment, and that it is paid and not less than 24 consecutive hours. Friday is the weekly rest day for all workers, and the employer may substitute another day for it for some of his workers after notifying the competent labour office.

Statutory references

This guide is based on the Saudi Labor Law: Article 98 (working hours and Ramadan hours), Article 99 (changing the maximum by a decision of the Minister), Article 101 (the rest period and the limit on remaining at the workplace), Article 102 (excluding rest from the actual working hours), and Article 104 (the weekly rest).

As to the effect of the amendments made by Royal Decree M/44 of 1446 AH, in force since 19 February 2025: Articles 98 and 104 were not changed by the 2025 amendments. As for Articles 99, 101 and 102, this guide has not established an explicit amendment for them, so it is not sound to assert that they were amended or were not, and reference on that point is to the updated statutory text.

This guide is a regulatory explanation, not legal advice. In an existing dispute or a particular case, the statutory text and the competent authority remain the reference.